How to Modernize a 1990s Brick Home Without Painting It

By Mark Williams | Exterior Remodeling Expert

If you own a home built in the 1980s or 1990s, you likely have a solid, well built house clad in traditional red or orange brick. For years, the default advice from designers was simple: just paint it white. The painted brick trend exploded, turning entire neighborhoods into seas of stark white farmhouses.

As an exterior contractor, I am here to tell you to stop and reconsider before you grab a paint sprayer.

Painting brick is a permanent, high maintenance decision. Once you paint it, you trap moisture, create a peeling hazard, and commit to repainting your home every seven to ten years. In 2026, the trend has firmly shifted back to appreciating natural masonry. Homeowners are realizing that you do not need to paint your brick to modernize your home. You just need to update the architectural elements surrounding it.

Here is my exact contractor playbook for bringing a dated brick exterior into the modern era while preserving your masonry.

1. Swap Out Dated Windows for High Contrast Frames

The single biggest factor making your 1990s home look dated is likely your windows. Standard builder grade homes from that era are filled with chunky white vinyl windows featuring internal colonial grids. The bright white plastic creates a jarring, cheap looking contrast against natural red brick.

The Solution: Dark Window Frames

Upgrading to black or dark bronze window frames instantly transforms the entire facade. Dark frames recede visually, making the glass look larger and giving the home a sleek, sophisticated, and historic aesthetic.

• My Top Picks: Consider fiberglass windows like the Pella Impervia or composite frames like the Andersen 100 Series in dark bronze or black.
• The Grid Rule: Ditch the colonial grids. Opt for completely clear glass or a simple perimeter grid (Prairie style) for a much cleaner, modernized look that does not fight the heavy texture of your brick.

2. Upgrade the Garage Doors

Your garage doors often take up 30 percent or more of your home's front elevation. If you still have the original, stamped steel white square panel doors, they are dragging down your entire exterior.

Embrace Warm Wood Tones

Red brick and natural wood are a match made in design heaven. Replacing a stark white garage door with a modern, horizontal plank wood tone door instantly adds warmth and architectural interest.

• Contractor Tip: You do not need to buy real, high maintenance wood. Brands like Clopay and CHI Overhead Doors make incredible faux wood grain steel and fiberglass doors that look identical to real cedar but require zero maintenance.
• Color Matching: If you choose a wood tone garage door, ensure it coordinates with your front door. If you prefer a painted door, match it to your new dark window frames or use a deep, grounding color like Sherwin-Williams Iron Ore.

3. Rethink Your Trim and Fascia Colors

A major hallmark of 1990s design was painting all the trim, fascia, and gutters a bright, blinding white to match the windows. This creates a "candy cane" effect against red brick that feels incredibly dated today.

The "Color Drenching" Approach

Instead of stark white, we are now using softer, moodier colors to blend the trim into the roofline and complement the masonry.

• Warm Taupes: If you want a softer look, paint your trim a warm taupe or "mushroom" color like Benjamin Moore Plymouth Rock. This harmonizes with the mortar joints in your brick.
• Moody Darks: If you opted for black windows, paint your fascia and gutters dark bronze or soft black. This framing technique creates a very masculine, grounded, and high end architectural feel.

4. Modernize the Front Entryway

Your front door is the focal point of your home. Those ornate, oval glass front doors with brass caming scream 1995.

Go Clean and Geometric

Replace the ornate glass with clear, frosted, or reeded glass in clean geometric shapes. A solid wood door with four horizontal lites of glass is a highly popular choice that bridges the gap between traditional masonry and modern design.

• Hardware Upgrade: Throw away the polished brass handle set. Upgrade to matte black or satin brass hardware with clean, straight lines.
• Sconce Lighting: Do not forget the lighting. Swap out small, traditional carriage lights for oversized, modern cylindrical sconces or sleek black lanterns. The fixtures should be at least one quarter the height of your front door to look proportional.

My Final Take

You do not need to bury your brick under a layer of white paint to achieve a modern aesthetic. By strategically updating your windows, garage doors, trim colors, and entry points, you can create a stunning, high contrast exterior that respects the original architecture of your home. These upgrades not only look better, but they also require significantly less maintenance than a painted brick facade, ensuring your home looks incredible for decades to come.